Information is the destination

The main reason for his online endeavor was that he wanted to change public stereotypes about tour guides. Zhu had often asked his guests about their understanding of a good tour guide.

"Many of them told me those who didn't force them to go shopping during the trips should be good enough," he recalls.

"It was disappointing, because it meant travelers had very low expectations and some tour guides had not been giving a good impression."

He hopes he can do something to redress the image.

In one of his tours in Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang province, in 2021, Zhu explained the ebb and flow of ancient towns' tourism development spanning two decades.